silence
by TMNT-Queen
Summary: "It wasn't enough that they experimented on him. It wasn't enough that they screwed with his head. They had to take the one thing that he'd never be able to live without." (Alternate title: Blue Vengeance) Rated T for some minor language.


**silence.**

"How is he?"

"Well," the resident genius began, exhausted from the long four and a half hours it had taken to simply get Mikey stabilized, "He's got a long list of general contusions and minor cuts, a few broken bones, and eight cracked and/or bruised ribs. There seems to be no hemorrhaging, at least so far, so I'm guessing there are no internal injuries." His voice wavered on that last note, and he swallowed, but his sibling had already noticed.

Leo stared at his brother for a long moment, cobalt eyes narrowed. "There's something else, isn't there? Something you're not telling me. What did they do?"

Donnie's lower lip trembled and he took a moment to gather his thoughts, under guise of straightening the paperwork in his hands.

"Don," Leo repeated, less gently this time. "What did they do to him?"

"They, um...they...they took his voice."

The leader blinked. "What?" he asked, not quite understanding.

Don swallowed hard and looked away from the probing gaze. "They cut his vocal cords, Leo. He can't... I can't fix that. There's no way for me to fix that."

But Leo had stopped listening a while ago. His mind was fixed on the thought that his baby brother, his sunshine - the one who never quit singing and talking and laughing - would never be able to talk again. For a long time, he stood there, trying to process that reality. He stared at Mikey. Stared at the thick, ugly scar covering his throat.

It wasn't enough that they experimented on the kid. It wasn't enough that they screwed with his head. They had to take away the one thing that he wouldn't be able to live without.

Something deep inside of Leo snapped.

And his world turned red.

 **TMNT/TMNT/TMNT**

He didn't remember it, not at first. One minute he was standing in the lab, staring at Mikey - _Mikey_ _who would never speak again -_ and the next, he was in the doorway of the Lair with his family's screamed questions ringing in his ears.

"-happened, Leo?!"

"What the hell did you _do?!"_

"Raph, get him to the lab! He's hurt. Questions later."

 _Hurt?_ He wasn't hurt. He glanced down at his plastron and his eyes widened. Rivers of crimson dripped off the smooth keratin and ran onto the floor. Blood.

None of it his.

When Donnie checked him over, he saw that his older brother had a few scratches and bruises. But ninety-nine percent of the blood was from another source - _sources_.

Dimly, Leo remembered screaming, and the wet crack of steel through bone. Fountains of red gushing into the air. Cries for mercy.

He blinked as Don pulled him off the exam table and towards the showers. Hot water began pouring out of the fixture and he stepped into the spray, watching the liquid turn rust-colored and swirl down the drain.

Eventually, the water ran clear and turned cold. A set of hands wrapped a towel around his shoulders, guided him to the living room, settled him down on the couch.

"What. Happened?" Gentle voice. Gentle words.

Screaming. Death.

Leo's throat constricted and his stomach turned. Bile burned up through his esophagus. "Oh Kraang. I-" _Killed people. Murdered them in cold blood. Without a second thought._

He lurched to the side, diving for the trashcan, and barely made it. There was a foul aftertaste in his mouth as he sat up again, eyes watering. "They're gone," he whispered.

"Who?" Donnie pressed. "Who's gone, Leo?"

"The Foot Clan. I...they're..."

Donnie stared at him. Stared some more. Realization slowly dawned on him and he inhaled sharply. The blood. The lost, vacant stare in his brother's eyes. "Leo, you didn't. Tell me you didn't."

"I didn't mean to...I-I blacked out. Didn't know what I was doing." Only he had. He knew exactly what he was doing while he ended each of their lives. He wanted to cause them as much pain as they'd caused him - caused their family. They'd hurt Mikey. And he'd wanted to get even.

"Tell me that you left survivors," the genius begged. "Please."

Had he? He couldn't remember. There was just so much pain and death, like the coppery smell of blood filling his nostrils. "I'm dirty," Leo mumbled. "Need to shower."

"You already showered, Leo. Remember? That's why you have a towel around you. You were wet."

"Oh yeah. Forgot."

He knew what he had done. He knew he had crossed a line, and that there was no going back. But he wasn't sorry.

The news anchors called it a massacre. How they'd been notified of the event was beyond Leo - and to be honest, he didn't really care, anyway. Why should he? The Foot Clan had caused nothing but grief for his family. It was about time they paid the piper.

Donnie blanched at the photos of crimson-painted walls and scratched-up floors. Raph swore once he was told what his twin had done. Almost the entire Foot Clan had been taken down in one night, single-handedly, and in the cruelest way possible. Nobody could believe it.

But Mikey still didn't wake up.

 **TMNT/TMNT/TMNT**

Leonardo took to bed and stayed there. Nightmares plagued him every night - the screams of the tortured and dead haunted his dreams, and he got no rest. His brothers, with the exception of the still-injured youngest, checked on him every day, begging him to get out of bed. No such luck.

It was three weeks later that the knock on his door was different. Softer.

The leader made no move to answer, but his eyes narrowed behind a wrinkled and stained blue mask. It wasn't Donnie - the genius usually knocked swiftly before opening the door - and Raph would've either pounded on the metal frame or simply barged in. So that left...no. He was still unconscious.

 _Or maybe he's awake by now._

Leo dismissed the possibility immediately. He'd seen firsthand how injured his brother was. There was no way he was up and around already.

 _"Leo."_

Silence.

 _"Leo, c'mon. Let me in, dude. Please."_

Mikey's...voice? That was impossible.

 _"Not as impossible as you think, bro. Now come on. Open up. I promise it'll be okay."_

The weakened turtle didn't so much as move towards the door. Instead, he turned his back and faced the other way. There was a soft sigh.

 _"Gonna make me do it the hard way? Really_ _? Fine."_ There was a shuffling sound and then a hand on his shoulder. _"Turn around, bro."_

He didn't want to turn around. He didn't want to face the truth of what he'd done. He was dirty. Tainted. Without honor. But the hand on his shoulder was warm and comforting and he somehow managed to find strength to look behind him.

And there was Mikey, looking just as he had that night, before Leo became a murderer. His eyes were wide and bright. The scar on his throat wasn't as thick as before.

Wait. Scar. Vocal cords.

"How are you-" Leo's voice cracked and he swallowed, trying to force saliva out of a dry mouth. "How are you talking?"

Mikey grinned. _"Funny thing about that,"_ the freckled turtle replied. _"It's...well, hard to explain. But basically I'm in your head."_

"You...what?"

 _"I'm not really here right now, bro. I'm...what would Sensei have called it? Oh yeah. Astral projecting. So, like, I'm here, but I'm not here at the same time."_

It hurt to think. It hurt to breathe. "Mikey, I-I can't-"

The younger turtle seemed to understand. His mouth formed a little round 'o' and he leaned forward, gently and carefully pressing the fingers of his right hand against his brother's forehead. Almost immediately, the pain vanished.

Leo gaped at him - well, _through_ him, if he focused hard enough, but he was ignoring that. "How did you...?"

 _"It won't last long,"_ Mikey said, looking a bit more tired than before. _"Eventually you'll have to take a look at everything you did, bro."_

Shame colored the leader's cheeks and he looked at the floor. "You know what I did?"

 _"Hey, I'm not judging you for it. I get where you're coming from, believe me. And we've all had our moments. Remember that time Donnie almost killed Visioso and his henchdudes? And don't even get me_ started _on all the times Raph lost his cool."_

"Well, yeah, but...I killed people, Mike. I didn't even bother to honor their memory. I just cut them down. I let my emotions take control of me."

Mikey smiled, then. The smile was a soft, sad, fragile thing that didn't belong on his face. _"Like I said, we've all had our moments. You're only human, dude. It's okay to make mistakes once in a while."_

"Not like this," Leo rasped, tears prickling uncomfortably at the back of his eyes. "Not like this. There's no returning from a fall this bad, Mikey."

 _"There's always a way. Don't give up on yourself, Leo."_

"Why shouldn't I?"

 _"Because I'm not ever gonna give up on you. And I'm not gonna let you do it to yourself._ "

The orange-banded turtle leaned over and wrapped his arms around Leo's neck. Leo felt his eyelids growing heavier and heavier; the world turned black as he fell into a deep sleep.

 **A/N: I think I'm gonna stop it there; it's definitely plenty long. XD**

 **If you guys want more, leave a review and let me know. I would be willing to keep going with this story idea.**


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